Collapsible structures are known in prior art. Such collapsible structures can be used as tents, pavilions, automobile sun shields, beach mats, shelters, and children playhouses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,046 discloses a collapsible tent having four triangular walls each consisting of foldable material having respective peripheral triangular shaped channel which constrains a coilable wire frame segment. To collapse the tent the walls are folded together into a triangular shaped stack and then the wire frame segments are twisted and folded into overlapping loops. One disadvantage of this type of collapsible structure is that it is difficult to twist and fold the structure into a collapsed configuration. A user has to use both hands and even a foot or a knee to twist and fold the tent. Furthermore, tremendous force is required to twist the coilable wire frame segment of the collapsible structure into overlapping loops.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,784 discloses a collapsible automobile sun shield in which two panels are joined end to end to spread out across a car window in an expanded configuration. The panels are adapted to be overlapped and coiled up together. U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,908 discloses a collapsible automobile sun shield comprising a frame segment which is constructed as a single closed loop that can be twisted into a plurality of concentric loops. One typical disadvantage of these collapsible structures is that holding means such as a bag is needed to hold and retain the coiled up and collapsed structure in its collapsed configuration.